wesley, it's more just b o, where humanity defines expectations where freedom is always worked for both and untold stories from across asia and the pacific one or one east. on al jazeera, it's one of the biggest events for african music and creativity. artists from across the continent, gathering pentagon for the 8th edition, you'll be all africa music award. join is full coverage and updates on how jim here . ah, russia says it's forces have taken control of the east and ukrainian town of solid

dark. it's 1st major battlefield victory, edmunds, but keith says its troops is still fight tango. ah, hello, i am, i am the mozy and you're watching al jazeera also coming up on the program. the sound germany is really embarrassing itself. right now. i'm active as granted to mug was it's the german village where police are evicting protest is trying to stop the expansion of a coal mine. all we want is justice agree. court drop spine charges against activists involved in rescuing migrants and orders the prosecution to refile the case on procedural grounds. and at least 9 people are dead off to $35.00 tornadoes, 10 through alabama and georgia destroying homes and knocking out power. ah,

ah, hello, welcome to the program. are russia is saying that it's captured the eastern ukrainian town of solid are in moscow's 1st gain in the don bass region since july . but ukraine is saying severe fighting is still going on there. around the now ruined town are large salt mines with almost 200 kilometers of underground tunnels and caverns. before the war, the mines hosted whole football games 80 to 100 meters below ground. and in 2007, an orchestra performed there for 350 people. efforts to take solid dark been spearheaded by if jenny magazine, he is the leader of the mercenary wagner group. he has dress the importance of capturing the mines to store equipment and troops safe from ukrainian missiles. capturing sold out, also allows russian forces to concentrate on taking nearby backward which ukraine has been defending for months. 60 percent of it has been destroyed by some of the

conflicts most violent are fighting. sasha bought reports now from the capital cave. from above, the scale of the destruction in solid are is clear. and so is the danger. smoke billows above buildings as ukrainian armored vehicle weaves through what's left of the eastern ukrainian town on a mission to evacuate injured servicemen. ukrainian military officials say the situation in solid are, is critical but that their soldiers are holding on the door to serve called man visitation. is difficult, but stable that we are holding beg, then nobody lose their position. so we are fighting back some ukrainians, fighting and solid. r, say they need more ammunition and back up ukraine's president says that they'll get everything that they need. the time i was in raleigh, we have analyzed in detail the decisions needed. 3 enforcements needed on the steps to be taken by commanders in the coming days. we have also discussed the situation

with the supply of weapons and ammunition to the troops used for months solid r has been the scene of relentless and intense fighting, but roches defense ministry now says its forces have taken solider, visual neurological reorder. on the evening of january 12th, the liberation of the city of solid all was complete, which is important for the continuation of successful offensive operations in the de netscape regional, grownup, early a russian mercenary group. wagner posted a video online saying that it's fighters ready in town. i feel like russia has focused on taking solid as part of a push to capture the entire eastern ukrainian don bass region. but it has come at a very high price. russian and ukranian losses have been high for civilians. the situation has been devastating. most people have fled solider, but more than $500.00 people remain, including children,

ukrainian forces are racing to try to evacuate them while they're still time. natasha butler al jazeera keith and algeria. charles stratford has won is joy from outside backlit and ukraine's dumbass region. we have just come out of van mood having spent the morning in there with ukrainian special forces. they were pretty candid in their sorts. they said that they believed if it hadn't fallen solid are that is then it was going to imminently full. and they said that they were very few ukrainian soldiers left in the city and they were plans potentially for getting the remainder of those out. but as you say, things remain unclear and there is be no any kind of an official recognition by the ukrainians that indeed it has fallen. but of course, that puts huge pressure now on the town of bah, moot, which is only a 1012 kilometers further south. the scenes inside the city are truly incredible.

hardly a single building, certainly in the center that isn't it partially or completely destroyed the streets virtually deserted, very, very few civilians as well. and interestingly very few military, the special forces guys that we spoke to and had been there. so 3 months. so there was a hell of a lot of very heavy shelling when we were there. and i suppose after about 2 hours or so, we were given the alert. we had to move because according to their intelligence, they said around $600.00 russian soldiers could be seen entering the north east of mood, taking up new positions. so the situation in bar moot as well, seemingly increasingly tenuous. we asked them, why has this escalation, seemingly happened so fast? and they said the main challenge that they have faced in recent weeks is the sheer

numbers of russian forces that they are being attacked by wave upon wave and her adversaries, alley hash, unless filings valence and ration capt law scan. the mystery of defense announced that solid thought is under control, and this was after a statement by the wagner group that also emphasized that it's in full control of the city. however, there is a kind of conflict going on here to moscow between the baton group. and although the officials, while the ministry of defense emphasized that this battle or through taking solid dog was with the help of the to the forces the aerial forces on the ground forces. without any mention of the wagner group, the group itself came on, went on and telegraph on its own official channel. and in the form of an answer to a question, said that there was no other forces although,

than wagner's fighters in solid r. and that all attempts to dis, can i did the group from taking the city is due to bill chris see corruption and what are some of the officials wanting to keep their positions? that's it seems that most school is dina. fight from this from this row. it seems that most grace dealing with the post, also looks christmas truth, period as a new beginning for this war. meanwhile, a close ally of the russian president vladimir persian is suggested confiscating the property of russians who move abroad and who insult the state and its on forces proposal from viet just a voluntary and speaker of the lower house of parliament, singled our citizens who criticized the war from abroad, hundreds of thousands of russians left the country in response to the ukraine conflict, many who avoid being called out for military service. russia has criminalized,

discrediting the armed forces and spreading what it seems to be false information about the war. a gas pipeline connecting lithuania and latvia has exploded gas operator. amber grid says the blast happened in northern lithuania. there is no immediate evidence of an attack. lease were preparing to evacuate a nearby village, but no injuries or fatalities have been ro reported. supply of gas was cut off, while cruise work to extinguish the fire. ah, now climax of his gratitude bug as joint activists in the german village of lute seraph to protest against the expansion of an open cost coal mine. thousands of feet are expected to join them on saturday. several other activists in a village remain chained to a house in the abandoned area, resisting police efforts to evict them. some have been occupying houses in the

village for the last 2 years, protested say the co project on the mines, germany's climate goals. i think it's absolutely absurd that this is happening. the 2023. it is that most effective people are clear. the science is clear, we need to keep the carbon in the ground and germany is really embarrassing itself right now. one of the activists has been evicted from the gym. village of lots rough is dina, hamid. we filmed her last 24 hours there. i am. did i meet spokesperson for look the live and i'm 23. i'm from around the region. so from the area. and i, i think i've been funded around 5 years from year i can see a police coming in through. they're cutting them trees on the other side of the village and i think they're trying to take down the 1st 3 houses over there.

right. this used to be our living room. now we have barricaded the window so they can come in. i mean, our strategy is to be as far up as we can when the eviction starts, though they take as long as, as possible. i've been living little got on and off for about 2 and a half years. so since the protest started in the beginning, were, were just a couple of people who thought that this village needs to stay. and, and now it's really cool to see that thousands are coming to join our protest. you can just burn 280000000 tons of coal in a climate crisis where you know that every bit of emission that we're making right now is costing more lives on the other end of it. a we're in art and had

sick and this is as far as we can go, but not quite because people are also sitting on the roof. yeah, i guess i can hear the window shattering. we're doing our best to stay calm and to focus on what's important to us, which is that we're here with everything that we are here with our bodies to protect the cold from being burned. no, i'm, i'm not afraid of doing all i can do right now. and i'm like a,

it's about keeping hold by acting now by acting together, libra, as just the last 24 hours are of one protest and the jam village of litzy wrath. now moving on and of course in greece as dropped espionage charges against a group of activists involved and rescuing people from migrant bows ruling that they were vague. court also admitted the long run in case of procedural faults. as the non greece speaking, defendants hadn't received proper translations or in tap per says. they still faced charges of human trafficking, money laundering fraud, and the unlawful use of radio frequencies. and the prosecutor was told to re file the case. but this might not be possible as the charges would fall under statutes of limitations. among the defendants is syrian swimmer. sara martini, whose family story in spite the next electric film, the swimmers, high days decision does not represent an acquittal that we don't get to go to trial

. it means that we don't get to have a spouse and not guilty. it is simply a procedural mistake, but means of this kind of proceed. and if this same tactic gets deployed again for the felony trial, which we're still waiting to happen. it's 15 more years of waiting of errors. all we want is just if we want this to go to trial, and it doesn't seem like that will happen any time soon given what happened today. and the queen court's decision comes out after the united nations called the charges to be dropped. charles like this are deeply concerning because they criminalize life saving work and set a dangerous precedent. indeed, there has already been a chilling effect with human rights defenders and humanitarian organizations forced to hold their human rights work in greece and other countries. we return it, i'll call for charges against the $24.00 to be dismissed. gracie sullivan is a member of the european parliament from ireland. she says the court could have

gone a lot further. it's a step in the right direction. clearly it altogether victory. or how many charges are being investigated? so the $24.00 i have had some debt for which they but now they have to wait to see if charges will be brought against them in terms of felonies and look, this kind of this procedure, the monetary and workers were in charge of 2018. it's taking a long time to come to trial of today. it was dismissed because of procedure, an errors. but it is definitely unfair to see the humanitarian worker search and rescue workers being facing criminal charges. a new charges ordered the trump organization to pay a $1600000.00 fines. the tax fraud. a maximum penalty he could have imposed trumps

lawyers says that he plans to appeal that fine manhattan district attorney is still conducting a criminal investigation into trump's business practices. trump organization's foreman, chief financial officer, was sentenced to 5 months in jail on choose day of the testified as the prosecution stall, witness, and to trump organization affiliate were found guilty of 17 criminal charges last month, including tax fraud and falsifying business records. at least 9 people have been reported dead after tornadoes and thunderstorms hit the u. s. state of georgia and alabama to death toll is expected to rise as rescue crews are still searching for missing people. drone footage filmed in the alabama town of selma, shows dozens of damaged homes over 35 tornadoes, reported by the national weather service across the se, us on thursday. so, of course, blackouts with thousands of people across 4 states. i mean, you do k,

it, we, it pick up the crew and you're buying dose. don't you think this will all last go in everywhere. you get to the room, literally. all right, over here. and that's a lot of my whole house of live on there. you go that you had a shot that all to watch is out right there. wow. so that is not your home. it's your business. all my home or business. i move, i had a house that had moved from there. how to this house. i just removed from a house in september. there, how are you without? is there a lie from london? still add a study in china says 64 percent of the population has been infected with covered and thousands. turn out for friday, present baghdad, and a show of support for permanent champ, latisha, mcdonald, ah,

the after months worth of rain fell and 48 hours in antalya scenes are beginning to dry off on saturday. have one here says details the rain now falling over that eastern side of cyprus, beginning to roll into the la bands. but i don't think it's going to generate as much rain as we saw in antalya, for example, flood alerts across the united kingdom. and we've got more rain falling on top of that on saturdays, so rivers will be rising rapidly. meantime, weather roller coaster mince to degrees on saturday. last saturday you were waken up to minus 20 degrees. here's the situation, central europe, we get some pulses of rain moving through, but temperatures are high here. so don't think we're going to get much more snow added on top of the lp's. it's a quiet pitcher now rate across iberia, but we've got this rain swooping in on sundays, so that's going to cut across the peninsula and give us some snow for the pair

needs. top end of africa still breezy condition so long the co sign of libya and egypt could see some showers mixed in there and fill. that heat wave persists for the western interior of south africa. so for the northern cape province temperature up to $41.00 degrees and up in 10. but for the western cape province at least keep down at 24. that's actually a bit below where you should be for this and the year. that's a snapshot of your weather season. ah, the american people have spoken, but what exactly did they say? is the one looking for a whole new border with america in it? is the woke agenda on the decline in america. how much is social media companies know about you have, how easy is it to manipulate the quizzical book us politics, the bottom line with bowl and i'm at home stories that asia and the pacific analogy here.

ah ah, welcome back. look at the main stories now. russia says it's captured the east in ukrainian town of sola dot, and what would be moscow's 1st gain in the dumbass region since the month of july. but ukraine's as they still have the fighting going on. capturing sold out gives russian forces control of the towns extensive salt mine network that allows them to, to concentrate as well on taking it near by back much climax of his gratitude by this joint activist in the german village of let's roth trying to stop the expansion of an open park cost coal mine thousands more expected to join them on saturday. and

a court increase has dropped espionage charges against 24 activist involved and rescuing people from migrant boats. the court admitted the long run in case of procedural faults and ordered the prosecution to re file it. meaning they could still face all the charges, including human trafficking, the japanese prime minister, female cuz she de, is in washington for his 1st visit since taking office in 2021. sheeter is met with the president joe bite in the white house where that you are expected to discuss north korea and the ukraine war. china is also top of the agenda together with australia, india, japan, in the u. s. a formed a security lines known as the quad. it's either a response to china's growing influence in the endo pacific region. a why a defense crystal clear? fully for lease in south

korea recommending that $23.00 government officials be charged in connection with a halloween crowd crash that killed a $159.00 people. especially investigation team found the crush was a man made disaster caused by the failure to develop disaster prevention measures. it's at the authorities also felt respond promptly to the emergency. an estimated 100000 people were in the area on october 29th. many of them packed into a narrow alley. the recommended charges include professional negligence, resulting in death. a study suggests around 900000000 people in china, that 64 percent of the population have been infected with cove. it report by peaking university, says gunship province is the worst hit where 91 percent of people are reported to be infected. experts, a warning that cases will surge in rural china of the lunar new year holiday, which is coming up next week. hundreds of millions of chinese are traveling to their home towns many for the 1st time since the pandemic began. china is stop

providing de statistics of virus cases. but it's insist that it's sharing data with the international community. you probably don't posture don't shade the genetic frequencies of china covered 19 infection cases and may positive contributions to vaccine and drug research and development in various countries. now the latest economic data from china is prompted fears of a further slow down in the global economy. despite of record annual trade surplus last year, chinese exports contract at 9.9 percent year on year and december at the lowest level since the beginning of the pandemic. in february 2020 demand has been hit as china's largest trading partners. the u. s. in europe, risk slipping into recession, the reuters news agency estimates outbound shipments to the us fell almost 20 percent. 2023 grow for cars. the 2nd largest economy have been caught from roughly 8 percent around 4.9 percent. that's off the current of ours infections rocketed

following beijing's decision to ditch. it's strict 0 covert policy last month, but you can buy has more from hong kong. yeah. what was holding out hope for a recovery these days fruit sell it, mrs. gwen has few customers. but she's keeping her shop in beijing open and hoping the upcoming loot new year will bring some good fortune. taiyah lira, businesses lie, restaurants are doing much better nowadays. there are more customers seized kaufman east cove igniting policies. but i am selling fruit and nuts and serves us do not good. these things are not daily necessities. and since people don't have their money, they are more careful with spending. a widespread coated 19 outbreak in china in recent weeks has crippled consumer spending. millions of people have caught the virus or stayed at home in the hope of avoiding it. the government says everything

is under control, but there is science. it's rapid dismantling of pandemic policies. last month is undermining the economic rebound. exports fell in december and century production shrank the most since long term locked downs. 8 months earlier. in some places, frustration is boiling over the, at this factory and central china, police confronted workers who are protesting against layoffs and low wages. i must say that chinese cove in 1900 challenges have global implications, as some of the world's biggest companies, from automakers to smartphone makers. they think disruptions to their chinese production lines. apple is reported to be accelerating plans to shift some of its operations to india and vietnam supply chain analysts say that set to become a growing trend salt where you can predict it's not going to be predictable. that's the, that's a problem for those everyone. and if you just tried to draw

a contrast between china area and let's say, even in many countries in se, asia, the policies are much more predictable. they are not ticket, they have not been taken such an extreme measure to, to control goal. and effect is actually basically more in ny all the western companies economists are full costing a longer term turnaround. many predict that after code 19 infections of piqued china could still achieve annual growth of almost 5 percent. but for businesses that rely on chinese spending and manufacturing a long term recovery may be too long to wait. richard kimber, al jazeera in hong kong, 11 un security council members of urged the taliban and the repressive treatment of women in afghanistan. women have been squeezed out of almost all areas of public life since the taliban took power in 2021. they recently banned from secondary and higher education, public sector work,

and from visiting parks and boss. we urge the tolliver to immediately reverse all oppressive measures against women and girls of behavior to their commitment sit out in to go to cost resolution $2593.00 and respect the rights of women and girls of their full equal and meaningful about spoke to re an inclusion across all aspect to a society of gunnison from political and economic to education and public space. now another stories are following thousands of supported prominent shap, politician more tighter outside. they're packed bagdad streets for friday, pres earlier. this was their 1st show of support since last year's widespread demonstrations, which called for political reforms sander support his claim that since his arrival mohammed, as the donnie took office 3 months ago, it's not been any positive change. i'm it up to why it has more from baghdad, ah thousands of support. that is all but she, oddly that i'm up to the southern. i've come to perform

a friday mass congregation. prayers in outside of the city in the iraqi capital about that. meanwhile, other supporters are performing the same players and other provinces across iraq as well. they say that this is a religious occasion because visit the anniversary of the birth of a party, missouri, the daughter of a prophet mohammed, and also it's been a better city of the fittest. at massa congregation friday players called the poor by the late one of the so that the father of not let us other. but at the same time, it could also mean, but it to get messages because of what the, the southern himself has been using. utilizing such religious occasions to deliver at message is to say that he supports out as an artist to the throng, and he can make a comeback at any time, especially it comes at a very special at a time. only the months after his arrival. his arrival at prime minister, how much he asked who done it, took office. it comes also,

emily and economic price, especially with the iraqi denado has been falling against hardened corners is not so nothing of the promises that his rival at his rival positions a promise have been achieved on the ground. so now, as, as a mock, let us know that his supporters won't say that we're still here. we're strong and we can make a come back at any time. our film and music stars have been paying tribute to lisa marie presley has died at the age of $54.00. singer was the only child of elvis presley. she was taken hospital in los angeles after a reported cardiac arrest on thursday. east marie followed in her father's footsteps and forged a career in music. she would ease 3 albums and was well known for high profile madge to michael jackson. in the 19 ninety's taken, a sweden now at the european union has integrated its fast mainland satellite

launch pad to bolster its capacity to send satellites into orbit. i see live on the lion joint, sweden's king, and prime minister to cut ribbon at his face course s ranch. it sir, an extension of an existing facility in the arctic far north of the country, and its aiming for its 1st launch in 2024, 3 days earlier, a launch from a new project in the u. k. failed ukraine. morrisville could tell the use of russia satellite launch site in kazakhstan, the current geopolitical situation. not least, of course, the russian invasion of ukraine has demonstrated how important it is. but the european union has access to space as range unique, geography goes, position, and long service. makes it ideal for launches of satellites in polar orbit.